Article operated switch



July 22, 1952 P. A. NELSON ARTICLE OPERATED SWITCH Filed March 10, 1948INVENTOR PAUL A. NELSON BY AT TORNEY Patented July 22, 1952 1', UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE ARTIC E OPERATED swrrcn Paul A. Nelson,Minneapolis, Minn.

Application March 10, 1948, Serial No. 14,015

This invention has relation to an article retaining device adapted to beespeciallyuseful as an adjunct to an ordinary telephone. An object ofthe invention is to provide anew and'improved device, for use at thelocation of a telephone; equipped to containarticles, such as writlngimplements' and paper, frequently employed when telephoning, inconveniently accessible position. I

*A'further object is to provide an article retainingdevice of thecharacter as stated, whichwill incorporate a novel and improvedconstruction and arrangement for removably supporting a writingimplement, such as a pencil, in said device in such manner as to make itimprobable that the writing implement after a use thereof will not bereplaced in the device unless this is intentional. I

A further object is to provide in the device, a new and improvedmechanism for removably supporting a writing implement, such as apencil, adapted to be actuated upon withdrawal of the writing implementto cause an electric circuit ineluding a visible lamp of said device tobe made and upon insertion of said writing implement to cause saidelectric circuit to be broken.

-And a further object is to provide an article retaining device whereinwill be incorporated desirable and improved features and characteristicsof construction novel both as individual entities of the device and incombination with eachother.

With the above objects in view, as well as others which will appear asthe specification proceeds, the invention comprises the construction,

arrangement and combination of parts as now to be fully described and ashereinafter to be specifically claimed, it being understood that thedisclosure herein is merely illustrative and intended in noway in alimiting sense, changes in details of construction and arrangement ofparts being permissible as long as within the spirit of the inventionand the scope of the claims which follow.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of'this specification,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an article retaining device madeaccording to the invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectionalview ofthe article retaining device, taken as on line 2-2 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view, taken as on line 3--3 in Fig. 2;

"Fig. 4 is a detail'sectional view corresponding generally with thedisclosure at the left upper corner of Fig. 3; and

- Fig. 5 is a wiring diagram.

2 Claims. (01. 200-52 A base housing member of thearticle retainingdevice is constituted as a'horizontal rectilinear member l0 providing ahorizontal rectilinear compartment II open at the lower front of saiddevice, and a body housing member is constituted as a verticalrectilinear member I2 providing forward and rearward verticalrectilinear compartments, denoted l3 and 14, respectively, of thedevice. The compartment 13 is comparatively smaller than the compartmentI4, and a horizontal dividing wall 15, between and constituted as a partof both the base and body housing members, bounds the upper side of thehorizontal compartment l I and the lower ends of the verticalcompartments l3 and M. A vertical partition wall [6, between the rear ofthe vertical compartment l3 and the front of the vertical compartmentI4, spans the distance between the side walls of the body housingmember, and portions of the base housing member extend to positionsbeyond said body housing member side walls in the disclosure as made. Arear wall I! of the body housing member, at the rear of the verticalcompartment: I4, is removable, and a front wall 18 of said body housingmember, at the front of the vertical compartment 13, will be oftransparent or translucent material, glass as shown.

Mechanism of the article retaining device for removably supporting awriting implement, such as a pencil, is situated in an upper portion ofthe forward vertical compartment l3. Spaced apart, horizontal supportingrods, indicated l9, 19, for said mechanism are situated in spaced,adjacent relation to an upper wall 20 of the body housing member l2 andextend from front to rear of the compartment 13. Rearward end portionsof the rods I9, I9 are fixedly supported, as at 21,"

on the partition wall l6, and forward end portions of said rods arefixedly supported, as at 22, on the front wall I8.

Oppositely disposed, horizontal, substantially parallel insulatingstrips or blocks, represented 23, 23, are situated in the compartment I3to extend at right angular relation to the supporting rods l9, l9, andsaid insulating strips or blocks are slidably mounted on said supportingrods. More explicitly stated, the insulating strips or blocks includetransverse openings through which the supporting rods pass more or lessfreely, and the construction and arrangement will be such that saidsupporting rods'will retain said insulating strips or blocks insubstantially parallel relation while they are slid relative toeachother in a manner to bemade plain. Compression coil springs 24, fouras shown,upon the supporting rods IS, IS and between the insulatingstrips or blocks and the partition wall It and the front wall l8,respectively, exert resilient action urging said insulating strips orblocks toward each other.

An opening through the upper wall 23 of the body housing member H is invertical alinement with midlength portions of the insulating strips orblocks 23, 23 which are adjacent each other, and interior sides of saidmidlength portions are cut away, as at 26, to provide an'opening betweensaid insulating strips or blocks in vertical alinement with the opening25. The

construction and arrangement desirably can be such that the cut-awayportions 23 providean opening which would be circular in the event theinsulating strips or blocks 23, 23 became interengaged.

The opening 25 and the opening provided by the cut-away portions 26 areadapted toreceive the advance end of the writing implement and less thanthat of the body of said writing implement when said insulating stripsor blocks are closely adjacent each other. OrLthe upper parts of thecut-away portions 25 can be made to flare outwardly to freely receivethe advanceend of a writing implement and guide it into lower parts ofsaid cut-away portions defining an opening of diameter smaller than thewriting implement when the insulating blocks or strips are closetogether. The construction and arrangement will be such that a writingimplement, such as a pencil, of appropriate size when thrust into thevertically alined openings will cause the insulating strips or blocks23, 23 to be forcibly moved apart against resilient action of thecompression coil springs 24 and also such that said compression coilsprings will exert resilient action upon the writing implement to causeit to be removably retained by and between said insulating strips orblocks. The pressure exerted upon the writing implement desirably willbe slight so that said writing implement can be readily and easilywithdrawn from the device when this is intentional, and, of course, thecompression coil springs will cause the insulating strips or blocks tobe moved toward each other upon withdrawal of said writing implement. 7

Each of the insulating strips or blocks 23 supports a pair ofspaced'apart, movable contact elements. As disclosed, the pair ofmovable contact elements which each insulating strip or block supportsare at the opposite ends of the insu lating strip or block, and movablecontact elements on the different insulating strips or blocks at thesame side of the compartment l3 are in alined relation in directionlongitudinally of the supporting rods I9, |9. That is, there are alinedmovable contact elements, designated 21 and 28, supported by thedifierent insulating strips or blocks at one side of the compartment |3and alined movable contact elements, indicated 29 and 30, supported bysaid diiferent insulating strips or blocks at the opposite side of saidcompartment 13 adapted, respectively, to become disengaged in responseto insertion ofa'writing implement into the device and engaged inresponse to withdrawal of the writing implement.

An electric lamp suitably and conveniently supported in a lower portionof. the compart- 4 ment l3, upon the dividing wall l5 and adjacent thefront wall I8, is denoted 3|, and a battery suitably and convenientlystably situated in the compartment M is represented 32.

A lead wire 33 extends from the battery 32 to the lamp 3|, a lead wire34 extends from said lamp to the movable contact element 29, aconnecting wire between said movable contact element29 and the movablecontact element 21 is indicated 35, a connecting wire between themovable contact element 30 and the movable contact element 28 isrepresented 36, and a lead wire 31 extends from said movable contactelement 28 to said battery.

A removable drawer 38, for paper, etc., is situated in the horizontalcompartment 1 In Fig. 1 of the drawing, a writing implement, disclosedas a pencil A, is inserted in the device and the lamp 3| isextinguished. Upon withdrawal of the pencil, said lamp 3| will becomelighted and remain lighted until the pencil is replaced. Light from thelamp, visible at the front of the transparent or translucent front walll8, will be much more apt to call attention to the fact that a withdrawnpencil has not been replaced than would the pencil itself alone,especially when the lamp is lighted in a space otherwise dark, Stateddifferently, the lighted lamp will make it improbable that a user of thepencil will neglect to replace it. Of course, light furnished by thelamp can be employed to useful purposes, such, for example, asilluminating the dial of a telephone, pages of a directory, paper uponwhich a user may desire to write, etc.

Although the battery 32 is an especially convenient source of supply foraccomplishing energization of the lamp 3|, it is to be understood thatthe circuit including said lamp could be supplied with electrical energyfrom a source in remote relation to the article retaining device.

Paper, etc., in the removable drawer 38 is conveniently accessibleat alocation in front of a lower portion of the device which evidently willbe illuminated when the lamp 3| is lighted.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device of the character described, a switch for removablysupporting a switch operator including spaced apart, parallel supportingrods, a pair of parallel insulating blocks mounted upon said parallelrods in perpendicular relation thereto for relative rocking movement andmovement toward and away from each other, contact elementssupported bysaid insulating blocks, respectively, including a set of contactelements disposed at the outer side of each of said parallel rods, thecontact elements of either of which sets can be engaged to cause acircuit to be made.

and the contact elements of both of which sets are required to bedisengaged to cause the circuit to be broken and resilient meansactuable'upon withdrawal of the switch operator from said switch tocause said insulating blocks to be moved toward each other and contactelements of each of said sets to become engaged, said insulating blocksbeing adapted to be forcibly moved apart in response to insertion ofsaid switch operator into a portion of theswitch between both theparallel rods and insulating blocks to cause said contact elementsofboth sets to become disengaged.

2. In a device of the character described, a switch for removablysupporting a switch operator-including spaced apart; parallel supportingrods, a pair of insulating blocks mounted upon said insulating rods inperpendicular relation thereto for relative rocking movement andmovement toward and away from each other, contact elements supported bysaid insulating blocks, respectively, including a set of contactelements disposed at the outer side of each of said parallel rods, thecontact elements of either of which sets can be engaged to cause acircuit to be made and the contact elements of both of which sets arerequired to be disengaged to cause said circuit to be broken, aconductor between the contact elements upon each of said insulatingblocks and resilient means upon said parallel rods engaged against baseportions of exterior surfaces of the insulating blocks actuable uponwithdrawal of the switch operator from said switch to cause saidinsulating blocks to move toward each other and the contact elements ofeach of said sets to become engaged, said insulating blocks beingadapted to be forcibly moved apart in response to insertion of saidswitch operator into a portion of the switch between both the parallelrods and insulating blocks to cause the contact elements of both of saidsets to become disengaged.

PAUL A. NELSON.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number

